Horatio Hornblower

Captain Horatio Hornblower, the novel's protagonist and dominant character, is a post captain in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars and commands H.M.S. Sutherland, a 74-gun, ship-of-the-line attached to Admiral Leighton's squadron. His age is about thirty-four, though this varies somewhat from the age indicated in the previous volume of the series. He is very educated and joined the naval service fairly late at the age of about seventeen. Hornblower is an exceptional navigator, captain and seaman, though he is nervous and constantly plagued by internalized self-doubt. He regards himself as cowardly and dishonest, yet all who know him regard him in an opposite way. His powerful drive to unqualified success masks his internal turmoil in icy reserve and even his closest friends never fully know him. An introspective and lonely man, Hornblower is married to Maria and had two children by her&mdash...